10+ Times People Said Something So Profound, It Stuck with Someone Forever

what is something someone said that forever changed your way of thinking my mom was dying a friend told me you have your whole life to freak out about this don't do it in front of her it really helped me to understand that my feelings are not always what's important it is possible to delay a freak out and that skill has served me innumerable times I was 13 years old trying to teach my six-year-old sister how to dive into a swimming pool from the side of the pool it was taking quite a while as my sister was really nervous about it we were at a big public pool and nearby there was a woman about 75 years old slowly swimming laps occasionally she would stop and watch us finally she swam over to us just when I was really putting the pressure on trying to get my sister to try the dives and my sister was shouting but I'm afraid I'm so afraid the old woman looked at my sister raised her fists defiantly in the air and said so be afraid and then do it anyway that was 35 years ago and I have never forgotten it it was a revelation it's not about being unafraid it's about being afraid and doing it anyway you are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm really hit home for me since I grew up trying to mediate my parents issues and had multiple friends in and out of the earth for mental health crisis during my teen years among other things as someone who has spent the majority of a life feeling like she had to take care of others at all costs it was kinda a shock to the system to hear that I was allowed to have my limits even with people who truly needed help a small thing but vastly more important than it sounds I was sitting in a bus once and we came to the railroad tracks there were some cars sitting in between us and the next red light so if the train came we'd be stuck until it had passed that was always a couple of annoying minutes then the light turned green and the bus went across the train tracks without having to wait for a train fili would crisis averted then behind me a mother said to her small child that was too bad we didn't get to see the train today that was the perfect way to frame that why not enjoy what you get I'm the eldest of three kids I'm older than my little brother by 2.5 years and my little sister by nine point five when I was about 14 or so arguing with my dad in private about something I don't remember Vee being the second oldest of eight kids told me any decision you make in this household you make three times once when you make it once when your brother makes the same decision after watching you do it and once when your sister makes the same decision after watching you and your brother do it how you treat your brother will tell him how he can treat your sister and how you treat your sister tells her how she will expect to be treated for the rest of her life even as far as her future boyfriends that kinda shook me up and made me rethink my role as the eldest child I started taking my responsibilities as a role model a lot more seriously after that even when you aren't trying to actively influence those around you those who look up to and respect you will still base their decisions in part on how they've seen you handle similar situations if you break down and get stressed and angry when something inconvenient happens they all feel better doing the same when something similarly small happens to them but if you keep your cool in a dire situation and under a lot of stress it can inspire them to the leave they can do the same my old boss the CEO of a small hospital told me a story from back when he was a lab technician for simplicity let's call him down dan had forgotten to check some sort of mechanism on a piece of equipment he used it malfunctioned and broke the equipment which ended up having around a 250,000 dollar repair bill the next day Dan's boss called him in to talk about it and he was sure he was going to be fired his boss asked him why he didn't do a proper check made sure he understood what happened and sent him back to work dan asked him am I not getting fired I was almost sure that's what this was about his boss said no way I just spent two hundred and fifty thousand dollars teaching you a lesson you'll never forget why would I fire you now it seems silly but their attitude always resonated with me don't make professional decisions based on emotional responses always know what your goal is when dealing with someone and what exact problem you are trying to solve everyone makes mistakes and yelling at them just makes them resent you and become defensive being calm and understanding will make people look up to you my psychologist gave me a print of a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet in the forest this is a quote that went with it supposing a tree fell down / when we were underneath it supposing it didn't said Pooh after careful thought piglet was comforted by this I think about it when I'm catastrophizing and it is really helpful for calming down and thinking rationally about whatever situation I'm in in an episode of Lau II he tells one of his daughters the only time you should look in your neighbor's bolas to make sure he has enough I am sure Louie CK didn't invent that on his own but it was the first time I heard it and it's stuck with me I was a pretty religious kid in eighth grade a girl said I'm so glad I was born into a family with the right religion it made me question my whole belief system and led me to becoming agnostic when I was 38 I contemplated beginning a two-year associate's degree in radiography I was talking to a friend and had almost talked myself out of doing it I said I'm too old to start that I'll be 40 when I get my degree my friend said if you don't do it you'll still be 40 but without the degree I'm nearly 60 now and that degree has been the difference between making a decent living and struggling to get by I used to fight for every square inch on the job I wanted to make sure we did everything the right way cutting no corners right before he retired and older employee said three simple words choose your battles I met a person who was in a wheelchair he related a story about how a person once asked if it was difficult to be confined to a wheelchair he responded I am NOT confined to my wheelchair I'm liberated by it if it wasn't for my wheelchair I would be bed bound and never able to leave my room or house amazing perspective you have an attitude it was said to me by a friend when I was about 25 I'm almost 40 now he elaborated by saying that my personality carries a huge lack of humility the things I would say or do in most cases was very off-putting to a majority of people I always had a better story after someone finished this I was full of knowledge on any subject or whatever opinion I had on the matter was always superior and correct my way of doing things was the best way I appeared ungrateful selfish and pompous and I had no clue whatsoever I'll never forget that conversation and the paradigm shift my brain experienced that day once I was aware of this attitude I started thinking about my relationships and the environment I created because of my general a Hillary and outer bag honest I actually sunk into depression for a short time realizing the way I had treated people and taken them for granted over a few years I slowly learned so many things about myself and others I learned how to listen to enjoy myself in groups and not need to be the focus of the group to be compassionate and empathetic to give advice only when asks or out of heartfelt concern or genuine worry to put others first when it counts to show up to be a friend instead of a competitor I've learnt many other things from that statement too many to list it's incredible to me how I'm still learning I think we all are and no one really has it figured out I know I don't but I'll never forget how that one small statement had slashed has a long-term effect on me if you always put someone else first you're telling them you always come second it was something like that I can't remember if I'm quoting it correctly I actually saw this on an advice Mallard meme and thought it was pretty good when I was young and having what I thought was a serious relationship talk with my first real sir I told her that I just wanted to find the right person without missing a beat she said everybody is looking for the right person and nobody is trying to be the right person that stopped me in my tracks I think - when my father told me these words after he saw me crying like a bill than my first ever failed major exam never regret anything in life you did something stupid shrug it off and never do it again lost something valuable forget about it and convince yourself you'll get something way better and you will regret never helped anyone it just adds to the load on your back you can't turn back time so when something is done don't ask tell yourself I shoulder done this I shouldn't have done that tell yourself I will never do that same mistake again and just like that he turned me into the better person that I am today when I was in college I used to call my dad on my 15-minute walk to class one semester I had classes at 3:30 p.m. 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. every day and nothing before there I used to sleep until 2:00 p.m. every day on the weekends I'd sleep most of the day one time he asked me when I woke up and I told him I got out of bed in time for class that day proud of myself to have slept for 12 hours I'll never forget what he said son when you get to be mine and your mother's age sleeping the day away just seems like such a waste we've got less than half our lives left to live we just can't afford to spend half of that sleeping I rarely sleep the day away now [Music]

Channel: BrainyDude

Views: 869,886

Rating: 4.948318 out of 5

Keywords: reddit, r/, reddit top posts, brainy memes, best of reddit, askreddit, top posts, reddit cringe, top posts of all time, askreddit funny, top posts of r/

Id: 47s3syy8uhU

Length: 10min 35sec (635 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2019